Peterlee Excellence Cluster, Children and Young People’s Services, County Durham

Case Study on Parental Involvement:  Families First – Family Engagement

Summary - This case study is about an initiative by an Education Action Zone turned Excellence Cluster to aid parent involvement in their children's learning by releasing a member of school staff to work on family engagement, including family learning. 

Context:

29 schools, including 4 secondary schools and 2 nursery schools, from Peterlee Excellence Cluster (both village and town locations) are involved in Families First – Family Engagement programmes. Most of the schools had a basic level of parental involvement in children’s learning prior to the introduction of Families First. They engaged adults through the usual range of activity, including home loans, parent evenings, National Curriculum and Assessment information events, and social activity, as well as some PTA or ‘Friends of the School’ groups and in-school volunteering. The schools want to step up the levels of active involvement of parents, and to build better supportive relationships with a wider group of parents. A more ambitious aim is, through the universal offer of a wide range of activity, to engage with those parents who rarely relate to the school, or only relate in a negative way.

Families First project – how it works:

Each school conducts an audit of their current parental involvement activity, and assesses how successful it is, and identifies where the opportunities and challenges are. From this audit it is easy to identify what needs to be further developed, improved or introduced, and this is documented in an Action Plan, which is often incorporated in the School Improvement Plan.

Each school identifies a person to be the Family Learning Leader (FLL) – most usually a member of staff, typically a Teaching Assistant or Nursery Officer (NNEB), sometimes a volunteer, occasionally a teacher – having on average one day a week to work on Family Engagement. In three secondary schools a ‘team’ approach to delivering the action plan is being tried – including staff responsible for transition, Year 7, inclusion, and community involvement.

Training and induction is available for the FLL led by the Family Engagement Consultant from the Excellence Cluster. Other courses such as Welcoming Schools, Transition for Families, Share, Share Plus are made available.

The FLL is responsible for building the relationship between the school and parents, for consultation and negotiation, and for commissioning activity from local agencies. Some FLLs run activity themselves, or involve other members of school staff in events.

Successes and outcomes:

• Schools have a more positive, informal and ongoing relationship with more carers.
• Messages and information are more readily shared between home and school, which means that children’s needs are being met more effectively.
• Adults are developing confidence, self esteem, personal and social skills, and are more effective parents to their children, more able to support their child’s development and learning.
• Parents are volunteering in school and the community, or leading activity.
• Some parents are progressing to further training and employment.
• Schools have developed parent rooms or ‘space’ for parent activity, and are positively welcoming adults on site.
• Family and adult learning is more accessible, available on school sites, and there is more of it – the ‘menu’ of activity has increased either delivered by schools or agencies.
• FLLs are developing confidence and skill as professionals in a new role.
• An effective family engagement model has been developed through 9 pilot schools.
• Success and personal/professional development is celebrated, and good practice is developed and shared widely.
• Parents and parent groups share their expertise with other parents and other school communities.
• Joint school activity has evolved.
• Increasingly there is partnership regarding family engagement across the Key Stages, and through feeder schools to receiving schools.

Key factors for success: 

• A person (from Peterlee Excellence Cluster) to lead and support development across the group of schools.
• Part funding to individual schools (from the Peterlee Excellence Cluster budget).
• An individual audit and action plan that meets the needs of the school and its community.
• An effective member of staff responsible for face-to-face work with parents.
• Consultation of parents / community by each school to find out what interests and motivates them.
• Starting by responding to parents’ own requests – which may be a preference for leisure courses, activity with their child, or activity without their child – and then building interest and confidence to help adults progress in their involvement and development.
• Having a wide ‘menu’ of activity that engages parents.
• Championing and supporting individual adults in their interests, aspirations and talents.
• Ongoing support and encouragement for each adult.
• Positively affecting the ‘welcome’ of the school offered to parents.
• Developing a whole school approach to building positive home/school relationships.
• Positive and effective partnership between schools and local agencies.
• Networking and support for FLLs across the Families First project.
• Persistence and hopefulness on the part of schools and FLLs, and a preparedness to experiment and take risks.
• High quality of provision for adults.
• Specifically addressing the needs and interests of male carers and working carers.

Challenges:

• Some school communities are difficult to engage despite a FLL having tried ‘everything’.
• The success of an activity in one school does not guarantee its success elsewhere.
• There has to be an element of ‘trial and error’ that may lead to finding the activity that motivates a community, and success may take time and be hard won.
• Some parents need very small steps and lots of support before they are securely involved in learning or activity.
• Parents and carers of pupils in KS2 and KS3 require different approaches to those in FS and KS1, and models of effective engagement are few.
• Endurance and persistence are needed by schools / FLLs when parents are not readily responsive, or shun commitment.
• Poor communication between partners and poor quality activity can lead to carers losing interest or enthusiasm, or losing confidence in the school or agency.
• Lack of space in most schools for community activity, and little funding to create or adapt space.
• Hard to keep the family activity within the ‘day a week’ FLLs have available.
• Lack of funding for schools to release staff to deliver parent activity.

Resources:

• Families First Toolkit (primary school model of family engagement)
• Families First 3 Toolkit (KS2/3 Transition process involving families)
• The Partnership Folder (guidance and documentation to facilitate school and agency partnerships)
• Training Opportunities for Parents as Volunteers (folder)
• Volunteers (information pack)
• Crèche Provision (information pack)
• Welcoming Schools (training pack)
• Transition for Families (training pack)

To learn more contact:
Janet Halford, Family Engagement Consultant

0191 587 1764
janet.halford@durham.gov.uk